Dreamers push, but Connecticut House Speaker says he doesn’t have the votes

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HARTFORD >> With less than three weeks to go until the end of the General Assembly session, proponents of two bills that would give undocumented immigrant students access to financial aid at Connecticut’s public colleges and universities are putting on the full court press for passage.

Earlier during the session, the Higher Education Committee and Employment Advancement Committee forwarded both bills to their respective chambers. But neither the House or Senate has taken it up yet.

The Senate doesn’t want to raise the bill if it’s not going to pass in the House.

House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz, D-Berlin, admitted Thursday that he doesn’t have the votes.

“It has support,” Aresimowicz said, but “It’s a few votes short.”

House Majority Leader Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, added that the Senate may take up the legislation first.

Adam Joseph, a spokesman for the Senate Democratic caucus said he did not know if or when the Senate would take the legislation up.

This the fourth year in a row that the “Dreamers” are trying to get a bill that would give them access to financial aid at Connecticut’s public colleges and universities. Last year, they were able to get the Senate to approve a similar measure, but the House never voted on it.